Aston Villa ‘make approach’ for shock Barcelona acquisition - as new project takes shape

Aston Villa have approached Barcelona to recruit director of football Mateu Alemany, according to multiple reputable reports. The 60-year-old, who has been in the role at Camp Nou since 2021, is said to be the man Unai Emery has hand-picked to help progress the exciting new project at Villa Park.

The Villans may be focusing on a charge for Europe this season but plans for the future are in full swing, with plenty of action going on behind the scenes at Bodymoor Heath. Bringing in Alemany, who had a stint as general director at Valencia between 2017 and 2019, is said to be a big part of the strategy going forward.

Spanish journalist Gerard Romero and reliable transfer news reporter Fabrizio Romano have both reported that a formal proposal has been put forward by Villa in a bid to acquire Alemany’s services. This could spell bad news for current Villans sporting director Johan Lange, who could theoretically be replaced.

Alemany has played a key role in signing the likes of Raphinha (€58m from Leeds United), Jules Kounde (€50m from Sevilla) and Robert Lewandowski (€45m from Bayern Munich) for Barcelona this season alone, as well as Ferran Torres (€55m from Manchester City) and Memphis Depay (free from Lyon) the campaign before.

It was announced by the Catalan club on Tuesday that Alemany will be leaving at the end of the season regardless, so there won’t be any problems in that regard. There’s likely to be interest from elsewhere, however, so the Villans may have to fight off competition to get their man.